Wandering the Commons
by Sam the Thing
Summary: short stories and drabbles i wrote about my w101 kiddos while playing through the game again. these do not necessarily take place in the commons. pretty much all of them were written at midnight on my phone.


Sitting so still in front of one of power, one so ancient, so wise beyond worlds, beyond magic, was disconcerting. Didn't stop her from doing so. At the bottom of the dune she had slid down, the Sorcerer sat crosslegged, wand and deck put to the side, though still within reach. The Spider tilted his head pensively, making no threatening movements, looking almost pleasant. Sestiva could hear Mellori shrieking at her from somewhere in the sands. She put some of her mana into the dunes to keep her out. They lashed in time with the storm, keeping her interference at bay.

"Your behavior is quite strange indeed," Grandfather Spider spoke in his low and quiet rumble. "Lady Nightstar recommends you end my life, and yet you settle for a simple conversation."  
"We both know what will happen if I try to kill you." Sestiva replied. "Plus, I like this place. And, well, you're not actually the most ridiculous acting opponent I've come across. Do we have to get to the dramatic combat so quickly?"  
He chuckled. "Like the girl, Mellori, wants?"  
"Okay, so I'm feeling a bit spiteful."  
At this, he outright laughed. "You are an interesting child indeed. Of light and shadow, attempting to advocate for order, yet you claim to enjoy this tempest. But you do not like chaos, do you?"  
"Your idea of chaos involves destroying the worlds. And I kind of live on one of those, so. You know."  
He leaned on his staff and seated himself next to her, shakily and stiffly, shuffling the sand slightly. She curled in her fingers and had them twist the sand into the shape of the Spiral.

"We're taught in Balance school that everything exists through compromise. A little bit of everything creates the whole, and nothing can get whatever it truly wants; it will always have to settle. That applies to concepts like order and chaos as well. Too much can be toxic. I just don't want you to do too much, that's all."  
"Hearing such honesty makes me almost want to acquiesce." he said. "But I suspect there's more to it, isn't there?"  
Sestiva let the Spiral sand drop flat onto the dunes. "I'm mostly just tired of shunning people I could talk to and resorting to violence all the time. It hasn't ever felt rewarding and I suspect it never will."  
"Even if it's for Grandmother Raven?" he asked.  
Sestiva looked him directly in his glowing eight eyes. "She said she would always watch over me. I assume she meant that quite seriously. I have no doubt she'd know I'd try this."

"You don't find it exhausting, having her watch you constantly? It sometimes seems less like she cares about you, and more that she thinks you should be monitored, if you ask me. Freeing me, however accidentally imperative it was, certainly doesn't help things."

"Well, I _didn't_ ask you." Sestiva said sharply. "And we thoroughly established I was given absolutely no information as to what would be released, other than they would help. And you did. I wasn't about to just let Morganthe do what she pleased out of caution."

"Hrm. That's right, you're against destruction. I see." he tilted his head, arms wrapping around his staff more, leaning back. "So why didn't you try to talk with her?"

Sestiva gripped at the grains beneath her, the silky feeling quickly fleeing her grasp. "She brought back a man who was, for all intents and purposes, supposed to be at peace. She destroyed an entire world, she made plenty of others miserable, and she did it for no other reason other than her own ego. There would have never been a conversation with her." She brought her knees to her chest. "For the record, we did _try_ with Malistare. Even Cyrus tried. It didn't work out."

Grandfather Spider hummed. It started out mindless, but then it turned into notes Sestiva swore she'd heard before. Morganthe had sung it once, perhaps.  
He looked at the ground, seeming almost bitter. "There was no compromise when it came to the construction of the Spiral. They sealed me away because I differed in opinion. And now I think I deserve the right to be a little ridiculous about the whole thing, don't you agree?"  
"I think you _should_ at least get to complain about it." Sestiva nodded. "As one who regularly does the aforementioned 'seal away things you can't agree with' routine, I would like to break away from the pattern, if you would."  
Grandfather Spider began to drag his staff through the sand, making miniature tornadoes from the symbols he drew. The vortexes sped away, growing in size as they went, eventually vanishing into the sandstorm. "I'm not sure that I can, quite honestly. I've been kept from anything material for far too long a time. Even an immortal can feel the years drag on, you know. It was agony, to spend eras in the dark. And yet..." he looked at her. "I suppose it was worth it to meet a being such as yourself. The 'Sandwraith' they called you? The title feels rather fitting, for a child of Light and Shadow. Hrm. And for one well versed in the conglomerate magic, at that. Though perhaps their usage was derogatory."  
She snorted. "I don't care. I made it my last name, after all. Let them think what they want of me for now. Perhaps they'll grovel for forgiveness when they realize what it takes to combat real dangers."  
His eyes glowed in a way that made Sestiva think that, perhaps, he smiled. "You're not much of a hero, are you?"  
"I hope not." she replied.  
It was then that Mellori blustered her way out of the sand. "Wait a minute! You're really going to back off? _Now?!_ " 

**an/: alternate take of the old cob fight. im one of those weird people who likes their villains perhaps too much. Grandfather Spider is just so cool and his design is so good and his pokes at the nature of the game are interesting and his voice is mmmn i love him. here's hoping they wrap up his arc in a way that's actually satisfying and thought out instead of just killing him off and leaving it hdsfddfhcggdweadef.**

 **edit: ey fanfic dot net what the fuck was all that code garbage you made me publish**


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